Re-feel is looking to “add one store per month”, as its CEO is interviewed about the business.
One of Re-feel’s stores (Credit: Your Story)
Franchise India and Your Story reported on Re-feel, an Indian cartridge refilling franchise, with CEO Alkesh Agarwal interviewed by the latter. The company is described as “one of India’s largest printer cartridge refilling networks”, and is “focusing its growth strategy to tier two and three cities”, with the plant to “add one store per month over [the] remaining few months of this calendar year” to its over 100 existing stores.
New stores have been announced for Rudrapur and Dharwad, and the company is “also eyeing” national contracts with corporations, having sponsored a CIO (Chief Information Officer) event – CIO Crown 2015 – in an attempt to create a “brand presence” among Indian CIOs. It states that working with it “can be a hassle-free business”, with an “array” of tools and programmes “to capitalise on the growing industry”.
Agarwal noted that “we see a lot of scope in tier two and three cities in India resulting out of growth in digitation and automation. Our focus over [the] next quarter is to expand and build [a] robust network of stores in these cities”. He also discussed the origins of the business, which was a “necessity” as opposed to an “aspiration or a luxury”. Starting out in computer repair, he moved into cartridges as he identified that it was a market “consumers were finding increasingly difficult”.
With the higher numbers of used cartridges in India, Agarwal thought that to “recycle them to reduce costs as well as minimise the carbon [foot]print” was a good business idea, and his four friends “put their life savings” into the business. He then travelled around to do market research, including to China, and attempted to join Cartridge World, but found franchisee fees too expensive, spurring him to “start our own brand, and strive for more excellence than competition”.
Branding the company Re-Feel, the company started in 2007, and Agarwal introduced the idea of franchising, with the first franchisee signing up in the first two weeks, though it took signing up to an event to raise more funds by seeking more franchisees. After two years, the company got a “considerable market share”, later “equall[ing] and later replac[ing] Cartridge World as market leaders in India”.
The company “opened a store every five days in India” in 2009, and saw more media attention and recognition, including a media deal with Times of India, before expansion got to today’s over 100 stores. The company’s staff grew from 16 to 100, and 800 in total across franchises, with Agarwal stating that “his greatest achievement […] remains building a committed team”.